Kontextmaschine

24th November 2022

Video reblogged from Rants, Ramblings, and Random Thoughts with 88,662 notes

becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys:
tenthdynasty:
bohemian-pixel-pusher:
catchymemes:
How to protect yourself during stampede
this isn’t the usual thing I’d share on my stupid nerd blog, but this is SO important.

I was nearly crushed in a crowd like this once. It was terrifying because you have NO control over the panicking mass of humans around you. you are just at the mercy of all this chaotic force. this is a real thing that can happen very suddenly! it did happen in the news recently!

My situation was, the olympics was happening in my city, I was on my way home from school, and a crowd of people suddenly flooded into the street around me. in seconds it went from, busy-city-street-crowded, to, wtf I can’t even move crowded.

I was so pressed against the backpack of the man in front of me, my feet lifted off the ground a moment. People were climbing lamp posts, signs, bus shelters, trees, everything to get up out of it. it was like the street became an ocean of people, and all the people’s survival instincts were making them dumber. everyone was yelling. no one knew how to solve it.

police, fire fighters and medics saved us by breaking the locks on the inside of the mall we were trapped next to. a huge group flooded into the building, releasing a bit of the pressure on the people outside. I was in that group that got in.
We were trapped in the mall awhile. Because the olympics was on, they had big screens in a few sitting areas of the mall that would normally be showing the games. but now the coverage was focused on this crowd surge. They showed a helicopter shot of the building we were now in, totally surrounded by colorful dots. a solid mass of humans with no space between.

I know someone was partially trampled and needed medics, because I saw that, but i don’t know the statistics on who else was hurt, hopefully no one killed!

I don’t know if these methods can definitely save you, but they might give you a better chance. so watch and share!
Sharing to my own stupid nerd blog for the same reason, this is SO IMPORTANT. Human crushes are one of the most unexpected ways to die. People go out to a show or a sports game, and make it there, but they never come back.

Other strategies include staying away from large obstacles (like fences) that you could get crushed against, and doing your best to stay above the crowd. Try to climb onto something if you can.
And also — not to get nitpicky with deadly tragedies, but they’re called “human crushes,” not “stampedes.” It’s an important difference in description and also in respect. The deaths usually happen because the victims are pinned together in a tight space, they can’t breathe (as in the video) and they suffocate. “Stampede” doesn’t convey what actually happened to those people. The crush that happened in Seoul recently wasn’t because people “stampeded,” it was because they couldn’t move at all and they suffocated. But calling it a “stampede,” you’d think it was the people themselves that ran over each other, like wild animals. It’s disrespectful and untrue.
Horrifyingly, the victims of many human crushes have been blamed for their own deaths, which are usually purely accidental or due to criminal mismanagement from authorities. If you’re in a mental place to read about tragedies and police corruption, check out the Hillsborough Disaster, in which 97 people died due to the incompetence of the police, who then blamed everything on the victims: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster
If you can’t play the video:
1. Stand like a boxer. Nice wide stance, arms up like you’re preparing to either throw a punch or shield against one, i.e. elbows bent by your waist and fists by your shoulders. That will keep some space around your chest
2. If you fall and can’t get up, roll onto your side and curl up in the foetal position
Video description:
A segment from a newscast that starts with narration saying, “Just one small push …” and showing a group of people stumbling forward after being pushed by one person. The narration continues, “can be enough to throw just a handful of people off balance.”
A banner appears at the bottom of the screen. It reads: Only on GMA / Surviving a Stampede / How to survive a crushing crowd. A person steps forward and begins talking to the camera. They say: “So what’s amazing about that is, just one person pushed, and then a crowd of 15, 20 people gets pushed together, and then you’re, you’re steps are so small, you’re all stumbling, on each other.”
The camera cuts to the crowd again and then fades do a 3D render of a person. The narration says: “Now an expert shows us a better way to stand. Legs staggered for balance, and arms up like a boxer. In super dense crowds, that separation will help protect your heart and lungs from potentially thousands of pounds of chest-crushing pressure.” The 3D animation shows the heart and lungs in a small circle, and the person is surrounded by red arrows to indicate outside pressure.
The narrator continues: “It’s a simple pose but surprisingly effective, possibly lifesaving.” The camera shows the same group from before standing in the position described. They are pushed again, and the forward motion is much less than before.
The same expert from before says, “Wow, that’s a lot better, huh?” The camera cuts to show a person lying on their back on the ground. The narration continues: “But if you do fall over, he says, stay off your back and stomach. Here’s why.”
The person lying on the floor looks up at the other people in the room and says: “Lie down on me like you would do if you got knocked down, too.” Three additional people join the pile, and the person on the bottom grunts. They say: “Oooo … okay, the other guy . . . Okay, I can’t breathe. My lungs are compressed. I can’t breathe, and you’re on my heart. Someone off camera says at the same time: “We can see it in your face.”
The camera cuts to the same person, now with no one piled on top of them. They are lying on their side and covering their head with their hands. The narration says: “He says do everything you can to get up, but if you can’t, lay on your side to protect your most vital organs, your lungs and your heart, and cover your head.” The 3D render is shown again in the described position and with the circle indicating the heart and lungs’ location. The footage cuts back to the real person on the floor. The expert from before is gesturing and saying, “This is about living or dying.”
End description.